BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING the recent accident involving a vehicle owned by Big Banana Tour Company, which left 16 persons nursing minor injuries, the Tourism Ministry is mulling the implementation of new safety measures for open-sided vehicles transporting tourists.
In an interview with SKNVibes, Tourism Minister the Hon. Lindsay Grant said that as a result of the accident, he and senior members of his Ministry had met to review safety measures for open-sided vehicles.
“Having regards to what has happened quite recently, we have to go back to the drawing board to see if any additional things that we can improve upon.”
He however stated that meetings were held to address the problem, “but we have not come up with any new initiatives as yet with respect to that particular accident”.
The Minister noted that the safety of tourists is a matter of concern for the sector, stressing that it is a work in progress to implement new safety measures.
“At this stage, what we are delivering in those kinds of vehicles, there are some safety measures there with chains across to ensure that visitors don’t fall out.”
On January 18, while transporting workers to the South East Peninsula, the vehicle had encountered mechanical problems and the driver sought to take the necessary action to protect his passengers.
Shortly after the accident, proprietor of Big Banana Tours Michael Bridgewater told SKNVibes that the brakes system failed while descending Timothy Hill because “the air finished out of the tank”.
“When we got to the bottom of the hill, the truck was running and I had to make a turn. And when I made a turn to the bottom of the hill, it just flipped. I was just trying to make sure I didn’t go over the cliff or anything like that.”
Sixteen individuals were in the vehicle at the time of the incident and they were transported to and treated for their injuries at the JNF General Hospital.
